LG's recent software update has forcibly installed Microsoft Copilot, an AI assistant, on smart TVs without removal options, sparking widespread user backlash over privacy, bloatware, and loss of control. This highlights growing tensions in smart devices, where monetization often overrides user preferences.
Incredible. What a shit idea.
Anyways, kids, remember: never let your smart devices talk to the internet. We actually love our LG OLED - it’s fantastic hardware. But it has not once, and never will, get the chance to phone home.
I got a Sony OLED that was on a steep discount near the beginning of covid since it was clear me and my roommate would be home a lot more (Ended up just being in nature more and used it sporadically). Thankfully their interface was minimal at the time so it was just a blank homescreen in offline mode but I’ve saw tvs now adays some people are buying that will have an overlay even while on any hdmi inputs, that you must connect to the tv. A friend of mine got a cheap Walmart one after a move like 2 years ago and the overlay took up a third of the screen. He just moved too so he had no internet to connect to for a couple days so couldn’t even use his PS4 on it.
Especially a smart phone!
Exactly, I basically just use mine as a big monitor connected to my PC sat beneath it
That’s the way to go, fuck all these limiting android slop boxes.
Yeah, my LG OLED is a genuinely wonderful thing, with which 99% of its use is via an Apple TV. The other 1% is me casting my phone to it, because it’s a Pixel and Apple are pricks who won’t let AirPlay work outside of their ecosystem.
I reworked my entire home network. Going from an Asus router to an opnsense firewall, just to put the HP printer and the LG TV on a VLAN with absolutely no internet access.
These two poor guys ping each other every day, in the hopes one of them gets a connection.
Awesome haha. ALmost exact same setup here, incl. OpnSense with an isolation vlan in which (brother) printer and TV are.
Sorry for that noob question: i do not grasp the idea of vlan fully: will i still be able to connect to devices in the locked down vlan (the tv, the printer) from the devices in the “normal”, open Wifi (like my phone streaming to said tv).
Right now i have a gl-iNet router (brume 2) that uses adguard to block advertising sites (and also home phoning destinations of popular brands), but not sure if that does the trick already.
Whether you can access these devices or not depends on your firewall rules.
The usual (very simplifed) setup is as follows
VLANs:
Firewall rules:
VLAN_Trusted: Can access everything, WAN (internet) as well as devices on VLAN_Untrusted and VLAN_IoT. Usually, your PC or smartphone is here
VLAN_IoT: can only access WAN (internet), but none of the other VLANs, usually connected devices, like smart appliances that you control via their dedicated apps, like Philips HUE lamps, etc
VLAN_Untrusted: Can not access anything. Usually devices that you don’t want to allow to access anything, lika a TV, or a printer to prevent automatic firmware updates.
Some people also hav a VLAN_Guests, which is similar to IoT, where devices can only access the internet.
I hope this helps
Thanks a lot! That is very helpful. I was lost in reading up the details of configuration without understanding of a general concept.
Totally worth mentioning, some LG OLED TVs are able to be jailbroken and run homebrew software!
https://www.webosbrew.org/
It can block firmware updates and telemetry, so no spying and no surprise “feature” additions.